All posts for the month February, 2017

Facebook started testing new product ads few weeks back( still in beta), shoppable feed ads. The ad allows retailers and e-commerce players to show a multi-product ad/ image in the Facebook news feed.

For those familiar with Dynamic Product Ads, this is slightly an evolved version of it.

The ad format consists of two parts, one a hero image and a second page( within the Facebook environment) consisting of a page with more products. It also take two clicks for a user to land on the retailers landing page.

Whats surprising is that it took Facebook so many years to finally evolve into providing shopping ad formats( google had product listing ads way back in 2012). Google continued to give ample importance to these formats and now they form a significant part of the search page results real estate.

Of course it goes without saying that improving mobile experience could also have contributed to such a format.

Initial reaction to the shoppable ads have been questions related to the “clicks” that the ad can deliver. Whats important to consider are the interactions that this ad can provide and not chase vanity metrics like a click.

Considering that no 100% first click actually result’s in a conversion/ purchase, what a retailer should take advantage is the detailed experience the ad format allows for. If used correctly, this format should also allows for a better user experience.

The format is still in beta, but hopefully should become available soon. Let me know once you start using this and the results.

For those who have been following the media space, this doesn’t come as a surprise. It was bound to happen….eventually.

Talks between the company and MRC had started way back in December 2016 and finally seems to have concluded with the social media platform agreeing on plans to commit to independent audit to verify the accuracy of measurement it delivers to its ad partners.

Initial resistance seems to have given way finally as media buyers demanded better accountability on part of Facebook and more recently with the P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard demanded that media platforms/ publishers fall in line and support the MRC standards or face consequences with P&G pulling of media spends.

So what has really changed?

For a start, Facebook will now provide more detailed information on viewability for display ads which include

Milliseconds that an ad was on the screen

Milliseconds that 50% of the ad was on the screen

Milliseconds that 100% of the ad was on the screen

Facebook historically defined viewability as the “moment an ad enters the viewable window” with no specific time-based restrictions. Considering how quickly users scroll through their news feeds, it’s highly possible that many of the ads are on screen for far less than one second.

And, later this year, advertisers will be able to buy video on completed views, sound-on views and two-second views. MRC video standard is of 50% of pixels in view for two continuous seconds.

Overall, the move seems to be a positive one with Facebook finally realising that even a big player needs to fall in line when it comes to a question of accountability and measurements.

For more detailed version of what Facebook released on its blog this Friday, click the below link-